Sylas took a breath and exhaled. Despite the power of the punch, he realized several issues immediately. For one, his arm was throbbing as though he had just put it through a rigorous workout. He was certain that if he punched out with this same arm again, there would certainly be problems. The second issue was that far more of his Aether was used up than what the technique denoted. It said that it should have cost just one Aether Unit, and yet he had used up as much as five just now, and it even felt like the technique wanted to take more, but he was just unable to sustain it.
However, Sylas had a feeling that even if he could give the technique more, he certainly shouldn't do it. That's because his body definitely couldn't withstand it. It didn't seem to be a matter of Constitution as the damage came from his Aether channels themselves. His Constitution alone couldn't seem to protect it.
While increasing his Constitution would save the aching in his arm a bit, if he ignored everything else and continuously used this technique, he would likely rip his Aether channels apart, and then he wouldn't even be able to use Skills anymore.
Sylas shook his head. It seemed that there was a price to pay for having such a good Visualized Conception. In all likelihood, if this Skill had been FFF- instead of FF-, then maybe it could withstand the brunt of his Visualized Conception. But ultimately, the Skill was too poor in quality to withstand the full extent of his Beast Totem.
'I'll have to save it as a trump card for now, and maybe find a new Visualized Conception that can be used with it when I'm not bringing out so much power.'
As Sylas was lost in thought, he found that he had already once again entered a 100-meter range of the village, and the feedback his Astral Will was giving him was quite substantial. As expected, even when he barely tried to hide him, no one detected him, and that was despite the pig demon village being on high alert after the last attack. Their Wills were too inferior to sense him.
However, as Sylas explored the village more and more, his expression couldn't help but become solemn. The waters were, indeed, deep. While there were no other Level 15's just hiding around, this village had a full militia of 50, of which the worst were Level 8 and the best were Level 10. In addition to this, they had a Level 12 village head leading the charge.
Sylas checked each and every one of their Levels with ease, and it was shocking to say the least. If he was careless in his approach, he would end up suffering again. But there was also good news. There were two weak points, both of which happened to come from the very same two outposts that he had attacked. One was still missing an outpost that had yet to be rebuilt, while the second was missing a ballista. The pig demons compensated for this with more warriors in these regions, but because of this, the other outposts were more scarcely populated.
'There are about twenty militiamen patrolling the walls alone. The other thirty are in the village, but are still on high alert, likely waiting for the Level 15's return. I can't get too close to the Level 12 because there's a chance that it has Will stronger than 200, so it's a bit difficult to tell what the center of the village is hiding. But… this should be enough for now. Let's take the slow approach…'
Sylas slid through the night. It was impossible to approach the village walls secretly now. Not only were there torches lighting up the night, but there were several assigned just to focus on the ground alone. Clearly, they were prepared this time.
The Skill churned through Sylas and he split into five versions of himself that suddenly rushed toward the wall all at once. The pig demons were taken aback, but their reactions weren't slow. They readied their crossbows and fired, but Sylas dodged, his mirror images moving in sync with him.
The roars filled the night air once more and a commotion broke out, but by this point, and before the pig demons could reload, Sylas had already jumped to the top of the walls, him and his five mirror images attacking all at once. The pig demons were flustered, but what several of them didn't realize was that the mirror images couldn't harm them at all.
Sylas focused on his own opponent for a moment. He didn't use his kunai because while his mirror images reflected his actions, their actual position had to be controlled by him. Right now, controlling five of them was already his limit, but he wasn't worried. He slipped the attack of a Level 8, blocked a descending blade with an elbow to its elbow, and then unleashed a second furious elbow strike right through its face.
The moment Sylas felt the satisfying crunch, he released his control over his mirror images and they began to act oddly. They were still mirroring his actions, but because he wasn't controlling their positions, their movements looked ridiculous as though they were throwing themselves to their deaths.
By the time the pig demons understood that they were fighting mirages, Sylas' kunai already flashed into existence, killing them. In one fell swoop, Sylas killed three pig demons and then disappeared into the night once more, not forgetting to wipe out all the torches in the region by throwing them high and into the village.
This time, he would truly torch everything.
The pig demons rushed to the location on the wall, but Sylas had already long disappeared. Just when they were feeling wary, thinking that they had to stay on their guard, Sylas attacked much sooner than any of them expected.